Old Friends

Sofia and I went to visit my friends in San Francisco yesterday. This is my former best friend, maid of honor (and I hers), her husband and their 3 mo old baby. I say former because the 2 of us got engaged at the same time (along with a 3rd friend) and it literally became a females-gone-crazy situation a la "Bride Wars." It's a really long story (albeit kind of a good one) so I'll spare you the details for another day, but I swore that after the wedding we would never be close again.

It's been 5 years and we see each other rarely. I occasionally feel bad about this, but then I remember all the shenanigans she pulled. As she has just had given birth to her first child, I've started to feel traces of guilt for distancing myself from her and dare I say, pangs of missing her.

Just driving through her the neighborhood in Noe Valley, I was flooded with memories of many evenings spent at a local bar there 10-12 years ago. What use to be called "The Rover" - a working class, Irish pub with plumbers, electricians and city workers glued to its bar stools is now called "Bliss Bar" and serves martinis and girlie drinks. The neighborhood was just starting to gentrify 10 years ago, it is now complete in its transformation. Upscale shops, boutiques, restaurants and businesses line the streets. It is a yippy (yuppie hippy) paradise.

But I digress.

It was really nice to catch up. I'm not sure if my newfound warm and fuzzies are due to the fact that she's "one of the club" now or if I'm just starved for some girl time, but it was actually quite nice to catch up and soak in some new baby goodness.

Being a typical 3.75 yr old and gregarious by nature, my daughter has no concept of censoring what she says at any given moment. I know you all have been there. My friends live in a studio apartment in a trendy, high rent area. Sofia's first question upon sitting on the couch was "Where are the rest of the rooms, mommy?"

"Where does the baby sleep?" "Where's the baby's room?" "Where's the baby's toys?" continued the line of questioning.

We ended up eating dinner there and when we were done, my daughter asked what they had for dessert. Then, she wanted a snack. By the time we left, she had managed to finagle an apple, Hershey's kisses, a fig bar and a bunch of honey roasted peanuts from my unsuspecting friends.

I am pretty sure they thought her constant snack seeking was cute, but I do believe "Bottomless pit" was used at one point.

Note to self: Need to work on manners with S. and bring more snacks when going for visits.